PHILS BEAT BRAVES BEHIND WHEELER

BY ROCK HOFFMAN

Zack Wheeler pitched six strong innings and struck out nine Braves as the Phillies took game two, 4-2, in a key four-game series between the top two teams in the National League East Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.

WHEELER HAD NINE STRIKEOUTS IN PHILS 4-2 WIN

The Braves loaded the bases in the first inning with no outs, but Wheeler pitched out of the jam, with the key being a strikeout of Mauricio Dubón after J.T. Realmuto challenged a pitch that was ruled a ball, but the call was overturned, and there were two outs.

“You're setting the tone [in] the first inning, especially at home,” said Wheeler, who has allowed only two earned runs in his last two starts after giving up 18 in the previous four. “It was big to get out of that without any runs on the board. And like I said, just kind of set that tone, even though it was a little rough for me, but I was able to get out.”

Braves starter Martín Pérez was uncharacteristically wild in the first inning, walking four Phillies (to match his season-high), including the first two he faced – Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner – who both came around to score. Schwarber, who barely made it to third base when he advanced on a fly ball to left, came home on a single by Luis Arraez while Turner was on third base when Realmuto drew a bases-loaded walk.

Derek Hill tripled to lead off the second inning; he scored when Schwarber hit a smash that Matt Olson couldn’t handle at first base. Once he recovered, Olson had just one play to retire Schwarber by stepping on the bag, and it was 3-0 Phils.

With one out in the third, Ronald Acuña Jr. crushed an 82 MPH sweeper that floated over the middle of the plate. He sent it to the first row of the upper deck in left-center field, then proceeded to draw the ire of the Phillies’ fans – if not the team itself – as he danced and gesticulated his way around the bases.

“It doesn't really bother me all that much,” Wheeler said when asked about Acuña. “He hit a home run, so it's up to him to do what he wants. Our guy just rounds the bases - that hits 50 here.”

The Phillies got a blast of their own when Schwarber hit one off the facing of the second deck with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning; it was his Major League-leading 41^st homer of the season.

In the Braves' fifth, after Wheeler got the first two hitters on strikes – one looking, one swinging – there was a playoff-type intensity when Acuña came to the plate. He worked the count full by fouling off four pitches, but he swung and missed Wheeler’s eighth offering, a fastball on the outside edge, triggering a roar from the sellout crowd.

“You feed off it,” Wheeler said about the fans. “I knew going in, it’s going to be a big at-bat, and the crowd definitely helped me out.”

Austin Riley homered in the seventh inning to make it 4-2. In the eighth, José Alvarado induced Acuña to ground into a double play, leading to more cheers from the home fans. Jhoan Duran worked a one, two, three ninth for the save.